A treatise of a forgotten subject by a labourer unskilled, and who, moreover,
by his very task challenges competition with those who have written
on the theme, with better knowledge, and perhaps less sympathy;
a pother about some few discredited and unremembered priests;
details about half-savages, who `quoi! ne portaient pas
des haults de chausses'; the recollections of long silent rides
through forest paths, ablaze with flowers, and across which the tropic birds
darted like atoms cut adrift from the apocalypse; a hotch-potch, salmagundi,
olla podrida, or sea-pie of sweet and bitter, with perhaps the bitter
ruling most, as is the way when we unpack our reminiscences --
yes, gentle and indulgent reader, that's the humour of it.

R. B. Cunninghame Graham.

Gartmore,
March 30, 1900.





Contents



Chapter I
Early history -- State of the country -- Indian races -- Characteristics of
the different tribes -- Dobrizhoffer's book -- Various expeditions --
Sebastian Cabot -- Don Pedro de Mendoza -- Alvar Nunez --
His expedition and its results -- Other leaders and preachers --